Friday Forum, School of Geography and Environmental Studies ‘Journey towards knowledge’ O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying! The endless cycle of ideas and action, Endless invention, endless experiment, Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness. Where is the life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

Geography challenges Thinking about a discipline Peter Wilde 9 August 2013

Today we stand in footsteps millennia old. May we acknowledge the traditional owners whose cultures and customs have nurtured, and continue to nurture, this land, since men and women awoke from the great dream. We honour the presence of these ancestors who reside in the imagination of this land and whose irrepressible spirituality flows through all creation. Jonathon Hill

My journey towards an understanding of geography

Where my journey has led – so far Space Region Sense of place Time Societal and physical processes Place Scale Differential change over time indifferent places Different outcomes of processes in different places Different expressions of phenomena in different places Interactions between places How the characteristics of place and space influence phenomena, processes and outcomes. Interaction among phenomena in a place

Classical regional geography The 1960s Classical regional geography Integrated teaching about human and physical features in space

Layered English landscapes: Midlands fields Transport in Birmingham Motorway 1980 Canal 1770

Brewing 1754-1900 West Midlands iron industry around 1850 Iron works – note proximity to canals

My home town - Oldham

Positivist quantitative physical and human geography The early 1970s Positivist quantitative physical and human geography

Christaller’s concept of regions

More recent physical geography Ever more quantitative

Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA): A (basic) primer A simple view as Earth rotational feedbacks Gravitational feedbacks -> Global feedbacks Modelling critically requires Time-steps of spatial distribution of ice mass Knowledge of how Earth responds to loading: (3d) Earth structure (notably, lithospheric thickness, lower & upper mantle viscosity) Poorly understood

Spatial aspects of physical processes Gravity and rebound - - - - - - Before ice melt _____ After ice melt Courtesy of Matt King

Geography matters! (Courtesy of Matt King) Greenland mass loss equiv to 1mm/yr global sea level rise West Antarctic mass loss equiv to 1mm/yr global sea level rise Pacific islands feel the brunt, regardless Northern Europe feels less than average due to Greenland melt!

More recent human geography Post-positive approaches Ever more sub-disciplines

Peet’s view of the growth of sub-disciplines in human geography

Malpas quoting Jessop on the churning Contemporary discourse in relation to space, both within geography and more generally, has been characterized by ``an unreflexive `churning' of spatial turns, leading to short intellectual product cycles for key socio-spatial concepts, limiting opportunities for learning through theoretical debate, empirical analysis, and critical evaluation of such concepts'' (Jessop et al, 2008, p 389-401, quoted in Malpas 2012 p 229).

Geography challenges!

The course of the good ship UTAS

Why keep this discipline? Geography is confused at the centre and open at the boundaries Geography opens a world to other disciplines Geography is atomised among sub-disciplines Specialisation is more productive than integration Other disciplines study place and space

I know we’re in there somewhere! Centre for Environment  Provide solutions for real-world environmental problems. Be guided by end-users in setting priorities. Support interdisciplinary research, including science, humanities, government and law Australian Environmental History (HTA271) Explores the interaction between human beings and the natural environment in Australian history. The unit first examines the Aboriginal relationship to the flora and fauna of the continent and then reviews the impact of European settlement on the land and native animals until the 1970s. It assesses the effects of agriculture, pastoralism, mining, forestry and introduced animals, and of pollution arising from urbanisation and industry. It traces the rise of an environmental consciousness with the establishment of national parks and nature reserves, the development of ideas about wilderness, conservation, and preservation, and the emergence of the green movement.

The new national school curriculum Geography builds a broad and holistic understanding of the world by integrating knowledge from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. Geography develops students’ curiosity and wonder about the world. Geography explores the places that make up our world, and investigates the effects of location and distance on the characteristics of places, the interconnections between places, and the management of place and space. Geographical skills include fieldwork in human and physical studies, and interpreting and mapping spatial distributions Field and computer-based technologies are fundamental to geographical study. This knowledge and skills can be applied in everyday life and to a variety of careers.

Re-forming and re-presenting geography

Saying goodbye! We shall not cease from exploration And at the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time …the source of the longest river The voice of the hidden waterfall And the children in the apple tree Not known because not looked for… T.S.Eliot ‘Little Gidding’